A simulation of an acoustic data link between underwater transducers and a moored buoy

The development of a computer program for simulating underwater sound transmission is described. The simulation was funded by the NOAA Data Buoy Office to model acoustic data transmission between underwater current transducers and surface buoys. For speed and simplicity the ray tracing method of simulation is employed. The methodology for fitting equations to the velocity versus depth profile in this simulation is discussed in some detail. Comparisons between input data and fitted equations indicate the velocity profile fits are accurate to within 0.02 percent. The method of tracing ray paths and the resulting intensity calculations are also discussed. Finally it is noted that complete simulations are possible in less than 15 seconds of CPU time with storage requirements of less than 500 kilobytes on an IBM 3033 computer.